New Yorkers aghast as de Blasio wears cargo shorts to gym

The mayor was on the defensive Friday — about his choice of gym attire.

Hizzoner defended wearing that most offensive male fashion choice, cargo shorts, for his workout sessions at the YMCA.

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"That's a very practical solution to an important challenge," he laughed. "You know, they're comfortable. You can put stuff in your pockets."

The mayor's dad duds were caught on camera Friday, after activists urging him to more quickly close Rikers Island crashed his gym and filmed a confrontation. The mayor was on his hands and knees on a yoga mat, and as someone filmed from several feet away, kept trying to get back into his stretches.

“I am not here to impress you on a style level. I am here to go to the gym, damn it,” said the mayor, doubling down on his controversial khaki. (Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News)

At one point, he folded over into the yoga move known as child's pose — revealing what appeared to be a leather belt holding up the offending garment.

Though asked about both the shorts and the belt, the mayor didn't mention the latter — typically not part of the loose fitting, elastic clothes people wear when they work out. But de Blasio also isn't known for particularly strenuous sweat sessions at the YMCA.

The fitness fashion is yet another area where he and his likely Republican opponent, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), differ. She often hosts yoga on the beach events in her district, and said that while de Blasio can wear "whatever floats his boat," she prefers a flexible waistband.

"I never wore cargo pants," Malliotakis said of her yoga events. "There is a huge contrast between the mayor and I and I guess now I know it goes as far as gym attire."